The Shape of water (2017)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2017
	Director: Guillermo del Toro
	Actors: Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Octavia Spencer, Michael Stuhlbarg
	Country: USA
	Genre: Romance, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 12.02.2018, Schauburg, OV Sneak Preview, English/Russian with German subtitle
Synopsis: In the hidden high-security government laboratory where she works, lonely Elisa (Hawkins) is trapped in a life of isolation. Elisa's life is changed forever when she and co-worker Zelda (Spencer) discover a secret classified experiment. The security officer Richard Strickland (Shannon) takes care that the experiment is not discovered. While Dr Robert Hoffstetler (Stuhlbarg) is the scientist who wants to take care about the experiment.
Review: Because I love some works by Guillermo del Toro such as Pacific Rim and Pan's labyrinth, I had to watch this new creation. In order not to expect too much, I did not read anything about it. Which surprise when the movie starts with the arrival of a monster. Ok Del Toro likes monsters, so this was anyway to expect. Then the encounter of Sally Hawkins with the monster and her fascination for it looks like the fascination of the child for the faun in Pan's labyrinth. The story is rather a sequence of nice scenes. Either for the visuals (e.g. the first scene, the bathroom full of water), for the image composition (e.g. two women in the corridor, Strickland´s office) or for the combination of sound and image (e.g. the eggs given by Elisa). The fact of having the main character mute helps a lot not only for the relationship to the monster but also to the viewer as she needs to communicate and to keep the attention. Her communication is slow and sure.  The acting of Michael Shannon is great. Sally Hawkins is unusual as she uses to speak a lot. Her body language, especially of her hands is very good. I do not know whether it is a side effect of learning the sign language but it looks great.
Rating: 6 /10